[Mick]

As for online educatino, we have barely tried to do ioso far, and people are already saying it's impossible. That's bullshit.  

That's incorrect.  First, all forms of education need supervision, correction, training.  I've yet to see the computer that can serve those functions, particularly at the elementary level.  And the access that the poor and minorities have to top level equipment and wireless access is significantly behind that of the wealthy.  You're talking about systemic, nationwide online education.  We're not remotely prepared for it from an equipment standpoint, and we're even worse in terms of guidance, management, correction, etc.  You're letting kids learn at both their own preferred pace and, frankly, inclination.  How is that going to result in anything but disaster?

BTW, here's what kids want to do:
https://www.nextgov.com/ideas/2020/07/ki...ut/166915/
And its effects...
https://www.studyfinds.org/more-screen-t...-activity/

The argument for "permanent" losses due to poor education is bullshit also.  

Really?  You have evidence that this is bullshit?  Seems the exact opposite to me.

No one has ever been through this on a mass scale before.  

Makes perfect sense to roll the dice and abandon the traditional methods of literally every single society since the beginning of time.  "Wing it" doesn't seem like a winning solution.

Kids are resilient.  

You've made a lot of misstatements, but this one's a doozy.  This was the exact statement in the 1960s when large-scale divorce took root.  Kids were and are unbelievably screwed up over both divorce (read Judith Wallerstein's "The Long Term Effects of Divorce") and absent parents.  Kids are not resilient. Kids are resilient only in the sense that they heal more quickly than adults from injury.  In almost every other respect, they are not resilient.  Mental and emotional injury take a terrible toll on children, as would missing a year's worth of school.  I genuinely don't understand what you don't understand about that.  The implications in that statement -- we can screw with kids to the benefit of adults -- is horrifying, but not surprising, given our society's preference to marginalize their children. Which you're proving here, by the way.

And it is totally possible that we can invest more in education as we come of out of covid to make up for any shortcomings now.  Send kids to summer school.  Hire more teachers.  Hire tutors. 

Widespread, large-scale "catch up" is impossible.  Children have a top end learning pace.  You can't ignore a year, then make it up. 

I am not an education expert

No kidding.

I could brainstorm a list of interventions to help.  Again, we've tried nothing, and people are acting like that's the best we can do.  Ridiculous.

No, people are leery of gambling their children's futures on untried, unproven technologies with no supervision whatsoever.  How do you not understand that?

[Mick]

As for online educatino, we have barely tried to do ioso far, and people are already saying it's impossible. That's bullshit.  

That's incorrect.  First, all forms of education need supervision, correction, training.  I've yet to see the computer that can serve those functions, particularly at the elementary level.  And the access that the poor and minorities have to top level equipment and wireless access is significantly behind that of the wealthy.  You're talking about systemic, nationwide online education.  We're not remotely prepared for it from an equipment standpoint, and we're even worse in terms of guidance, management, correction, etc.  You're letting kids learn at both their own preferred pace and, frankly, inclination.  How is that going to result in anything but disaster?

BTW, here's what kids want to do:
https://www.nextgov.com/ideas/2020/07/ki...ut/166915/
And its effects...
https://www.studyfinds.org/more-screen-t...-activity/

The argument for "permanent" losses due to poor education is bullshit also.  

Really?  You have evidence that this is bullshit?  Seems the exact opposite to me.

No one has ever been through this on a mass scale before.  

Makes perfect sense to roll the dice and abandon the traditional methods of literally every single society since the beginning of time.  "Wing it" doesn't seem like a winning solution.

Kids are resilient.  

You've made a lot of misstatements, but this one's a doozy.  This was the exact statement in the 1960s when large-scale divorce took root.  Kids were and are unbelievably screwed up over both divorce (read Judith Wallerstein's "The Long Term Effects of Divorce") and absent parents.  Kids are not resilient. Kids are resilient only in the sense that they heal more quickly than adults from injury.  In almost every other respect, they are not resilient.  Mental and emotional injury take a terrible toll on children, as would missing a year's worth of school.  I genuinely don't understand what you don't understand about that.  The implications in that statement -- we can screw with kids to the benefit of adults -- is horrifying, but not surprising, given our society's preference to marginalize their children. Which you're proving here, by the way.

And it is totally possible that we can invest more in education as we come of out of covid to make up for any shortcomings now.  Send kids to summer school.  Hire more teachers.  Hire tutors. 

Widespread, large-scale "catch up" is impossible.  Children have a top end learning pace.  You can't ignore a year, then make it up. 

I am not an education expert

No kidding.

I could brainstorm a list of interventions to help.  Again, we've tried nothing, and people are acting like that's the best we can do.  Ridiculous.

No, people are leery of gambling their children's futures on untried, unproven technologies with no supervision whatsoever.  How do you not understand that?